Use

You use an object structure to describe the hierarchical structure of the object and the individual parts it contains. The object structure therefore provides “is-part-of” or “consists-of” information about complex objects. For example, Mr. Smith's car consists of a chassis, an engine, and four wheels, while the engine in turn consists of an engine block, four cylinders, and so on.

By representing the components used within an object, you indicate the position of a component within the structure in relation to other objects, thus enabling the relevant service to be selected for the relevant component. In addition, the structure of an object might be changed as the result of a service, with components being dismantled and possibly installed again at a later point in time, or replaced altogether.

Integration

The object structuring function makes use of the installed base structuring function. For more information, see Creating Installed Bases .

Features

On the Object page, you work with object structures as follows:

In the Components assignment block you can list the components within your object structure. You can insert and remove components, and dismantle and install them.

To structure the components in the list into a hierarchy, you click on the component ID to navigate to structure editing.

In the Object Structure assignment block, you can view the entire object structure, including any structures for objects inserted into the component list. This enables you to get an overview of complex objects.

If an object structure is visible, you can navigate directly to a specific component within the structure by choosing the Position pushbutton and entering the ID or description of the component.

The Copy pushbutton in the object header enables you to copy an individual object or, if the system recognizes that the object has an object structure, the entire object structure.

You must provide a New Value for the objects you are copying since the system does not allow any two objects to have the same Object ID .

If any of the objects included in the structure being copied have their own structure, the objects that are part of that structure, or substructure, are not copied.

Additional parameters can also be maintained in the Copy Object Structure dialogue box. For more information, see SAP Note 1125988.

The field Used in Structure in the object header indicates to which higher-level object the object concerned belongs within the installed base hierarchy.

Example

A loader consists of an engine and a gearbox, while the engine itself consists of an engine block. The model is constructed for service purposes, and does not exactly match the real structure of a loader.

The loader is modeled as an object. Business data such as delivery date and vehicle identification number are stored as attributes of the loader.

The list of parts is modeled using installed base structuring. It might contain references to products, objects, and possibly texts.

It does not make sense to build an object structure in which an object component has subcomponents or object structure components assigned to it.